Western Australian police charge a man over anti-Semitic comments

  Western Australia State Police announced on Wednesday that a 39-year-old man had been charged overnight following an investigation into alleged anti-Semitic online comments on social media platforms.

Police said in a statement that officers arrested the man on Tuesday (December 23) at his residence and executed a search warrant. The man was a licensed firearms holder and possessed several registered firearms and ammunition, all of which were seized.

Police said the man's eligibility to hold a firearms license will be reviewed. He has been charged with three offences, including conduct intended to cause racial harassment, carrying or possessing a prohibited weapon, and failing to keep a firearm or related item in an appropriate safe.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported that during the court hearing, prosecutors stated that images relating to open-source information about explosives manufacturing were found on the man's mobile phone, and police also found several handwritten notebooks titled "ideology, views, ideas and insights" at the man's residence, which contained highly antisemitic comments and references to Hitler and the Holocaust.

According to the ABC, the arrests were made under Operation Dalewood, a Western Australian police task force established following the deadly attack on Sydney's Bondi Beach earlier this month.